Where Does Infiniti Go From Here?

With Infiniti President Johann de Nysschen abandoning ship for Cadillac, I'm sure heads are spinning at Infiniti. The departure of their man with a vision leaving early in the implementation of the vision has to be alarming. What we know is in the pipeline: a Q30 compact hatch, a QX30 compact crossover, a flagship coupe, and a Q50 Eau Rouge performance sedan. Beyond the immediate future, where should Infiniti go?

I'd bet money that with his departure the Eau Rouge doesn't see the light of day.

And with Infiniti dragging its heels on the Q60 redesign, you can bet a flagship coupe is bound for the dust-bin as well.

As for a flagship sedan, probably won't happen without someone really pushing for it. I predict Infiniti is in for a long period of more of the same. Their future sales volume increases coming from the bottom end of the lineup (Q30, QX30) and their ATP headed downward.
____________________Because it totally worked when Lincoln did it.

TypeSH:I'd bet money that with his departure the Eau Rouge doesn't see the light of day.

-Dequindre-:I was under the impression that it was a done deal. de Nysschen was planning a whole "Eau Rouge" line to compete with BMW's M, Mercedes' AMG, and Cadillac's V.

My dear Dequi (pronounce that as Decky), nothing's a done deal til it's a done deal. If you don't see it in showrooms yet, ain't a guarantee it will ever make it there.

And the Eau Rouge is problematic at best. The car won't make money, so it's all about halo value. But how do you price such a car? Do you take per unit losses and build some following saying good-bye to every dime of R&D invested? Or do you price it so sky high that you make per unit profit, but guarantee such low volume such that the R&D invested couldn't be amortized in a hundred years and then suffer embarrassingly slow sales even with barely any available to begin with (LFA syndrome)? It's a car that can only see the light of day if someone like Johan is personally pushing for it, no matter the cost to the company, simply for the halo effect. Without him there, the accountants will take a hatchet to it in short order.

If I was in charge, no matter what was shown at the auto show circuit, the production Q50 Eau Rouge would have a worked over M56S motor stuffed in it, pumping around 460-hp (up from 420), priced no higher than $60k to undercut the IS-F and draw comparisons to the M3, RS5, C63, ATS-V, etc.

$100k is a price tag that can never work for a car that starts at $36k and looks like it should be in the 40s loaded.
____________________Because it totally worked when Lincoln did it.

-Dequindre-:With Infiniti President Johann de Nysschen abandoning ship for Cadillac, I'm sure heads are spinning at Infiniti. The departure of their man with a vision leaving early in the implementation of the vision has to be alarming. What we know is in the pipeline: a Q30 compact hatch, a QX30 compact crossover, a flagship coupe, and a Q50 Eau Rouge performance sedan. Beyond the immediate future, where should Infiniti go?

Good article, but unless Nissan breaks with tradition of the way the do things nothing will change. It doesn't matter how many good leaders they get until Nissan bureaucracy changes they will not get to the Germans level.
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Go figure, before they come out with their luxury divisions both Nissan and Honda were pretty good at managing business. Both Infiniti and Acura now are the equivalent of drunk sailors. If I was any of these companies CEO, I could find a fix for both of them 1-2-3. The problem is both of these companies lost sight of what they're all about. And from what I've seen of both companies lately, they've got a long way to go.
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I don't know WTF Infiniti has been doing the past couple years. This could make things even worse, somehow. So much for fun and I guess the push for an autonomous car continues.
--------------09 BMW 328i xDrive 6 sp - 76k km05 Toyota Tacoma - 280k km

Austin.Cooper:Go figure, before they come out with their luxury divisions both Nissan and Honda were pretty good at managing business. Both Infiniti and Acura now are the equivalent of drunk sailors. If I was any of these companies CEO, I could find a fix for both of them 1-2-3. The problem is both of these companies lost sight of what they're all about. And from what I've seen of both companies lately, they've got a long way to go.

Honda is pretty profitable, as a company.

Acura is a little lost in what they want to be, but they did foresee the problem before it is too late and are in the middle of correcting it by mother company Honda leaving Acura to manage themselves, become their own company not tied to mother Honda's umbilical cord.

I have a philosophy on how and why Honda made Acura lose sight...

much money, resources and R&D went into these products.And just to say that with the marine engines, Honda marine engines are now the world's most popular marine engines...

Like Acura, Cadillac and Lincoln...Infiniti lacks a clear vision of want to be. Cadillac knows what it wants to be, but lacks product. Infinti has the product, but has no vision, and the styling is suffering for it as the design team does not know what or how to style the cars as there is no direction from which to go at. Acura just got the message that they are going around in circles....Lincoln...Mulally wanted to kill off Lincoln. And if not that...then "One Ford" explains Lincoln.

Honda has been making small engines, for power equipment, for a very long time. And they are the best. I don't think that's why Acura sucks.
--------------09 BMW 328i xDrive 6 sp - 76k km05 Toyota Tacoma - 280k km

skpensfan:Honda has been making small engines, for power equipment, for a very long time. And they are the best. I don't think that's why Acura sucks.

Yes. generator engines and lawn mower engines. That they always had. Then they expanded to marine engines. And boy did they ever expand to marine engines. Plus jet engines... and a jet plane.

Acura does not suck.Acura lacks vision.Acura's vision may have been muddled through Honda's other projects and Acura's vision may have put on the side by assuming Acura customers will always return to Acura because of...arrogance that Honda may have had to assuming that Honda and Acura buyers will always buy...Acura. GM disease if you will.

Going back to Acura not sucking.Acura still sells SUVs/CUVs by the boat load. Its cars are paying the price...And while the Acura Civic may be a lesser product, the TL is definitely not a lesser product. Dont judge a book by its cover. Sure it may be ugly to you, but the TL is a fine automobile. Outside the TL, though, yeah, not good. But that is where vision is lacking. About the time that Acura was loosing itself, Honda was dabbling in the products that I posted as pics. Coincidence? Maybe. Like I said. Its my theory.

Oldshurst:Like Acura, Cadillac and Lincoln...Infiniti lacks a clear vision of want to be. Cadillac knows what it wants to be, but lacks product. Infinti has the product, but has no vision, and the styling is suffering for it as the design team does not know what or how to style the cars as there is no direction from which to go at. Acura just got the message that they are going around in circles....Lincoln...Mulally wanted to kill off Lincoln. And if not that...then "One Ford" explains Lincoln.

True, that's what I was saying too when I was talking about how both Acura and Infinti lost sight of what they're all about. Albeit Acura was somewhat foggy right from the start. But since they were the first Japanese luxury division in the United States, at the time they didn't have to explain themselves much. Just take some existing machines, redesign them and stuff them with more toys than you can find in a Honda and that was good enough at the time.
GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES

People, product, placement. Dealership experience at Infinity hasn't been up to par. The product is stale, like across the board. Reliability has also been a sore spot, like for years.

On the rise.

Cadillac...just need to expand on there flagship and offer two RWD packages with an optional V8.(oh on the rise according to Hyundai Kia folks the Cadenza, and all the o.....wait they don't have a separate dealership and name..never mind.

On the fall...Infiniti..Acura...

Dead and barely breathing...Lincoln...
_________________________________________________________What do you drive? American prosperity starts with the keys in your hands***************************If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses--**Henry Ford

On perseverance: “If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.” Elon Musk~~Tesla

So very true. The products are 2000 era products not 2010 era products. The showroom/dealership experience now lacks specially compared to MB, BMW, Audi and Lexus. Since those all have been remodeled in my area at least. Starting around 2010 their ratings slowly been going down, with the Q50 it's in the garbage now.

Cadillac needs a Luxury experience. Around here they look and treat you like any normal place but charge 3x as much. Article was spot on about them.